


Edwin Jarvis, The Butler

by Gingerfloss



Category: Iron Man (Comic), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Stark Family, Young Tony fic, and are so cute, and make you squeak, but yeah, have some tony and his butler cuteness, those things you write on tumblr that just get really popular
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:17:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gingerfloss/pseuds/Gingerfloss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jarvis who comes up with math problems for Tony to solve when things get too loud and sits up with him, the man who sits in the crowds at his school plays and is always there with a plaster when he stumbles and falls.</p><p>The man that brought up Anthony Stark.</p><p>((Gift drabble written from a headcannon post on tumblr that gave me far too many feels))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedirectorstark](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=thedirectorstark), [courfey](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=courfey).



When the Englishman had been employed by the Stark family, he’d been under the reasonable understandable impression that he undertaking nothing more than the usual duties associated with butlering for an elite family. It had never exactly been his dream, but with a wife to support and other responsibilities that needed to be fulfilled he’d taken on the position at her suggestion, and had found that he’d actually begun to enjoy his job. 

It had been three days before he’d realised that there was a third member to the family, a young dark-haired boy who barley seemed to leave his room or speak to anyone. Jarvis had met the child when he’d come running up the stairs of the mansion with a box in his arms, face split into a grin that could rival Christmas morning. Unfortunately, he’d been so thrilled with what he was carrying that he hadn’t remembered to look up and had almost crashed into the butler, causing both of them to make rather unprofessional noises of surprise.

The child had looked terrified as he picked himself up off the floor, gazing up at the older man who’d remained on his feet with a look of complete terror for a few moments, before his gaze fixed itself on the floor. He seemed unable to speak from fright. Jarvis had offered the boy a smile as he rescued the thing he’d been carrying, offering it back to him: “I think you dropped this, young sir.”

The boy glanced up, a touch on confusion on face as he took the offering: “Thankyou..” he muttered, holding the English mans gaze for a moment before he ran off again, barrelling down the hallway and into his room, slamming the door closed.

——-

Over the next few months, an unlikely friendship developed between the child and employee. Jarvis quickly discovered that the child had the brain power of someone much older, and the creative power of a genius, but his parents didn’t seem to be interested in the boy, preferring their own lives to his.

Soon after that discovered another flaw in the seemingly perfect lives of the Stark family, the master of the house had an unfortunate relationship with alcohol, and a habit of taking out his frustrations on his son. The butler couldn’t help but allow his instincts to take over a little at that point, accidentally misplacing the key to the young boys room whenever he suspected Mr Stark had had too much, and ensuring that he needed to clean something or return something to the child each day to check on him. It wasn't much, but Anthony, or Tony as he preferred to be known, seemed to have noticed this appearance each day.

——

It was late November when Jarvis discovered the boy sitting on the top step, head in his hands as he listened to the noise downstairs.

"They’re shouting again." He muttered as he heard the older man approaching, still concentrating on the floor as he listened. 

The Englishman paused as he looked down at his young charge, placing the suitcases he’d been ready to carry down the stairs on the floor, thinking fast as he tried to create a distraction.

"I noticed young sir, I was wondering if you would be able to assist me with something important?" He asked, trying to keep the concern from his tone.

Tony looked up instantly, curiosity blazing in his eyes. The boy liked to be asked things, he liked to feel involved in whatever was going on. Jarvis has noticed this one afternoon when he’d asked the child what he was doing behind the pile of papers on his desk: “You do?”

"Mhm, I was wondering how good you are at mathematics."

"Better than anyone else at school." Tony pointed out quickly, almost interrupting the other as he turned around where he sat: "I’ve been learning algebraic formulas.” There was almost a hint of pride in his voice.

"Would you be able to find ten percent of nine-hundred and thirteen?" He asked, inventing numbers as he smiled slightly at the child, watching Tony screwing up his nose as he started to think, completely oblivious to the screaming match downstairs.

"Its 91.3 percent." He grinned a less than a minute later, looking pleased with himself: "That was easy. You should as me something harder.”

The butler couldn't help but be bemused by the five year old, asking for more maths when most children would be wanting to play or asking to be held until the arguing stopped. 

"Could you manage seventeen percent of three hundred and six?"

And the game continued for the next hour, the Englishman testing the child on his sums until everything that was going on on the lower level was forgotten, and the sun was setting behind the heavy curtains.

——

Their game became a routine, a brilliant distraction for the young genius when things became too much, often accompanied by whatever food the butler could slip from the kitchen. The more time Jarvis spent with the child, the more he started to care about him, developing a stronger bond with him than he had with his own father.

In the youngest starks opinion, he was a much better father than Howard had ever been.

Maybe that was why Tony missed him so much.


	2. No-Thanks-Giving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ((Just a note, the author is English and doesn't know anything about american traditions, so please don't be offended!))

Thanksgiving wasn’t something that he’d heard of before coming to america, and certainly not something he’s been expecting to try and organize with the rest of the household staff. Unfortunately, the master of the house didn’t seem to be interested, too busy in his lab to take any notice of the planning for what was supposed to be a family event.

The lady of the house was just as uninterested, waving him away whenever he attempted to enquire about anything and continuing with her daily routine, the only person in the family that seemed to be interested was the five year old Anthony stark, who’d been asking as many questions as he could manage every time he noticed the butler.

Jarvis couldn’t help but find the child’s curiosity amusing, especially when he came back from school one afternoon with a scowl and a pad of paper in his arms, looking rather unimpressed about something. It wasn’t uncommon for Tony to look like that, he seemed to find school extremely irritating, the butler suspected it was because the child was a lot cleverer than his teachers. 

"They’re making us do a play." He grumbled at dinner, as usual, he was the only one sat at the table and Jarvis had stayed in the room to keep him company, listening attentively as he did every evening.

"The nativity?" The Englishman asked from behind his coffee, glancing over at the dark-hared boy as he stabbed his meat with annoyance.

"No, the thanksgiving story." He pointed out with a frown, biting the steak with more irritation than he needed to.

"It has a story?" The older asked, giving the child an interested look as he finished his coffee, setting the mug down as the boy finished his mouthful giving him a look that was surprisingly similar to his fathers.

"Of  _course_  there is. Its not _just_  about turkey.” He pointed out as he looked up at the other, gazing up as he explained: “Its a celebration, between the pilgrims and the natives that helped them survive after they first arrived in america…”

The explanation went on for at least another ten minutes, the Englishman unable to help but smile as he listened, for someone son young, he had perfect articulation and a more complex vocabulary than most of the adult staff in the mansion. Once Tony had finished he frowned, prodding at his dinner with his fork again, seemingly uninterested in eating it: “..So they want us to do a play about a story that  _everyone_  knows. It seems silly.”

The butler paused, thinking for a moment as he so often did when it came to the boy, saying the wrong thing to master stark would earn you a glower and a creative insult: “Surely you don’t have stage fright, Master Stark?”

"Why would I have that?" He grumbled, pulling a face as he finally took another mouthful of food: "I’m not that childish."

"Then is something else bothering you Sir?" Jarvis asked curiously, watching his young charge.

The child paused for a while, looking up at the adult before visibly deciding to admit his irritation, Tony didn’t often talk to anyone, let alone talk to anyone about his problems: “We have to do it infront of  _parents_.” He admitted, quickly returning his gaze to the wooden table, obviously not wanting to see the reaction.

The adult sighed softly as he heard the confession, now he understood why Stark had seemed so unimpressed earlier. Even at five years old he seemed to be completely aware that his parents wouldn’t be attending anything to do with school. The butler couldn’t understand their disinterest in the child, despite the obvious genius qualities he possessed he was still emotional young, and could do with someone’s support when it came to certain things. 

For a few minutes, the room fell silent again as Tony seemed to take a sudden interest in his food, wolfing it down still without looking up. Only once the plate was clean and Jarvis was presenting him with desert did the adult decide to speak again: “If you would like someone to attend Sir, I can request the masters permission?”

Anthony looked up in surprise, an unmistakable smile on his lips as he took the spoon, digging it into the pie he’d been given: “Mhm! But you have to help me practice. Apparently I’ll learn my lines better with a human to practice with.”

—-

Jarvis of course did as he had offered the child, in fairness he probably would have found an excuse to attend for the child’s sake even if the master had had a problem with it. When he’d mention the situation to his wife (despite the fact he was probably not supposed to discuss it with her) she’d found his intentions almost fatherly, and Edwin couldn’t honestly deny them.

Maybe that was why he found himself applauding someone else’s son as he finished his preference, and didn’t reject the hug that was thrown around him as the child came barrelling off the stage with the rest, returning it for a while before returning to his professional mannerisms.

And maybe that was why, for the next six years of his life, he continued to be the one sat in the audience at the youngest starks school productions.


End file.
